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Annual Report
2013-2014
Status of Women Review Committee (SWRC)
Brandon University
Committee members:
(a) Carissa Taylor
Board of Governors
(b) Sharon Hooper
Deans and Directors
(c) Alexis Braun
BUFA
(d) Dr. Barbara Rose
Arts
(e) Donna Forsyth
Education
(f) Karen Batson
Health Studies and FNAC
(g) Dr. Colette Simonot
Music
(h) Dr. Etsuko Yasui
Science
(i) Joan Garbutt
Library/Student Services
(j) Dr. Marion Terry
Invited
(l) Kathleen Nichol
Science (Chair)
The mandate of the SWRC is defined in Article 30 of the CA. The current SWRC has
chosen to address this by promoting professional development in teaching and research;
by promoting a healthy climate through mentoring and education; by collecting data on hires,
and the awarding of promotions, tenure, leaves and research grants; and by gathering
feedback from female faculty on their working conditions.
The committee held eight meetings between April 12, 2013 and April 11, 2014. The plan
is for one more meeting before the end of June.
Workshops and events organized:
(a) New Faculty Orientation BUFA session, August 27, 2013: Human Resources invited
us to organize a session for new faculty (BUFA members) in conjunction with the New
Employee Orientation. Dr. Todd Fugleberg, the BUFA president, and seventeen other
BUFA members and staff from across campus, who help new faculty in their roles as
teachers and researchers, presented. Todd explained the rights and responsibilities of
BUFA members, according to the Collective Agreement. Then others from the
Bookstore, Library, HelpDesk, Finance and Registration, Student Services, and the
SWRC briefly explained what help they provide to faculty – as teachers and as
researchers, responding to questions as they arose. Eleven new faculty members attended
and notes were sent to one other. Feedback was positive. SW provided refreshments.
(b) Workshop on Applying for Tenure, Promotion and Reclassification, September 14th,
2012: There were four presenters (Todd Fugleberg as President of BUFA, Dr. Deborah
Poff, as President of BU, Dr. Doug Pickering as most recent chair of the University
Promotions Committee and Dr. Reinhold Kramer, as most recent chair of the University
Tenure Committee) as well as eight recent recipients of tenure, promotion or
reclassification. The four presenters spoke, from their experience, of what is necessary to
achieve tenure, promotion or to be reclassified, according to the Collective Agreement.
They explained how each process works and how their Committees operated. In the
process, they outlined what is necessary for each application and how best to present it
(how to organize one’s dossier) so the Committees can make fair decisions with
maximum input and minimum frustration. Then participants broke into faculty groups
and the BUFA designations of PA’s and of IA’s/AA’s to hear tips from recent recipients
and to view their dossiers. Eleven potential applicants attended and one who couldn’t
attend was sent the notes taken during the session. The participants were from all
faculties and from PA’s. SW provided refreshments.
(c) Women’s Research Network (WRN) ) Cross-Campus Research Awareness,
November 16, 2013: The purpose of this session was for women researchers to gain an
understanding of what other researchers are doing at BU, and to grow cross-campus
research support and networking opportunities. Each participant was invited to come
with six minutes about their research interest and projects to share with the group,
knowing that others would likely not be well-versed in their field. Their spiel was to
include:
What am I interested in right now?
What stage am I at with my research questions?
Are there roadblocks or challenges?
What positive things are on the horizon?
All women on campus or off-site were invited to come or to video link to session.
Six researchers attended. Seven others sent regrets, noting they would like to have
attended. The low turnout worked out well in that there was time for each to present her
six-minute research synopsis, and for others to respond, in the 1.5 hours. It was very
interesting to hear the wide, interesting range of research being done. There was little
opportunity for collaborations to develop, however. This event could be run again,
considering the interest and benefits. There was interest in those that attended the
workshop for a “work day”, as has been discussed at REBU meetings: with stations
which people could cycle to, on making a BURC application, conducting a literature
searches, writing a proposal, creating one’s common CV, for example – all in one area or
room. The goal would be to have at least one thing actually completed during that day.
The WRN sessions are organized by a subcommittee of the SWRC, consisting of Joan
Garbutt, Dr. Colette Simonot, Dr. Etsuko Yasui, and Kathleen Nichol. SW provided
refreshments.
(d) Summer 2014 SW Review Preparation: As mandated by Article 30 of the CA, the
SWRC must conduct a review of the status of female faculty every five years. For the
previous studies, female faculty were surveyed to determine their concerns, and data was
collected on hiring, promotions, tenure, sabbatical leaves, BURC grants, rank, salary,
years to promotion, by gender, for all faculty – from Human Resources, the VP
Academic’s Office, hiring committees, the President’s Office, and BUFA.
A subcommittee of this committee was struck to supervise the research and writing
over the summer: Donna Forsyth, until June 30th, Dr. Barbara Rose after June 30th, Dr.
Etsuko Yasui, Karen Batson, and Kathleen Nichol.
Plans were made to create and administer a survey of female faculty’s concerns about
their working climate at BU. Last spring the SWRC committee had decided that we
would conduct the survey during the university term, to catch as many faculty members
as possible, rather than leaving it until June, as was done last study. To that end, the
survey was generated and application was made to BUREC for Ethics approval. The
SWRC received notice that the Ethics Application was waived, as the study was
considered a program evaluation. Then female faculty were invited to respond, through
the Survey Monkey online tool. The survey was opened February 21st to March 7th, with
29 out of a possible 140 female faculty responding. The deadline for filling out the
survey was extended to May 5th , and notice was sent to female faculty, in hopes of
garnering more feedback. By the close of the survey 43% had responded – 60 out of 140.
This was an increase over the 2009 study when the response rate was about 30%.
As in past studies, SWRC needed to hire a student research assistant to collect the
survey and statistical data, analyze them, and write the report on the findings. An
advertisement for the student research assistant position was posted on campus March
20th to April 11th. As only one response was generated, the deadline was extended to
April 30th, until after the exam period. Faculty members who might know eligible
students were asked to encourage them to apply. By the time of the extended deadline,
six good applications had been received. The subcommittee short-listed and interviewed
two of these, and a student was hired on May 9th. The position follows PSAC guidelines
and rates of pay.
To fund the study, applications were made to the BUFA Work Study Program and to
the provincial Career Focus grant program. The remainder is to be shared equally
between the President’s office and BUFA, as per the CA. Letters of request were made
to the President and to BUFA, with the proposed budget. We received notice on April 8th
that we were not successful in our BUSU Work Study application. Matthew May of
BUSU noted that there were a much larger number of applications this year than last – 25
compared to 12 – and that one of the criteria on which decisions were made was the
availability of alternate funding sources, such as the President and BUFA. For these
reasons our application was not approved. We have received replies from both BUFA
and the President’s office saying they agree to share the costs, as proposed in our budget.
The research assistant will begin on May 20th, 2013. We are looking forward to the
results, which will be forwarded to the President and to BUFA once the report is
completed, with copies provided to the Deans and Directors, and the report posted on the
SW website for others to access.
(e) New Faculty Orientation – In early February we were invited to organize an Orientation
session for new BUFA members. Dr. Todd Fugleberg, BUFA president, met with four
new faculty – out of a potential eight new faculty – on February 10th to inform them
about the BUFA Collective Agreement, and their rights and responsibilities as faculty
members. They did not receive the full faculty orientation that runs in last August – with
focus on teaching, as well – so they will be invited to attend the August 2014 session.
(f) International Women’s Day: SWRC decided to celebrate this day as it has since 2002
– by honouring its exceptional female students. In mid-January an invitation was sent by
the BUFA office to Faculty members to nominate their students. The Dean of Students
was asked and agreed to contact students who have been nominated, through the efforts
of Suzanne Letain in his office. Glen Kirby and Alex Beshara agreed to create the
webpage feature, and use the information provided to do external promotions. Greg
Misener and Craig Cesmystruk of Information Technology created the BU web feature.
Twenty-one students were featured, with some from every faculty. Two who
declined because unwilling to have the exposure on the Webpage were sent letters of
congratulations. A reception to feature the nominees was held on March 6th, with a
Brandon Sun reporter/ photographer present. An article about the event ran in the paper
the next day. Students were congratulated by a BOG member and received letters of
commendation on their nominations. A trio of BU student jazz musicians provided
background music during the reception in the Gathering Space in the Library. About
fifty people – students, their guests, faculty and staff, and dignitaries attended.
(g) Rethinkchildcare –CAUT and the Canadian Federation of Students are members of the
http://rethinkchildcare.ca/ campaign. They were arranging panel discussions in Regina
and Saint Boniface on March 11th and 13th , respectively, and invited BU to host them on
March 12th to raise awareness and to solicit ideas and support for a petition to the federal
government to increase child care spots and child care subsidy, and hear other challenges
with child care. Alex Braun, the BUFA representative on the SWRC, made arrangements
for Marianne Thiessen, director of the BU Early Learning Centre, and Rhonda
McCorriston, Director of the Indigenous Peoples Centre, to join Brianne Goertzen,
Coordinator of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) – Manitoba Chapter, on the
panel. Several faculty and staff and students were present for the panel discussion in the
KD building on March 12th. These three panel discussions were video-taped with the
plan being to use them to help present their petition to the federal government. BU will
receive a copy of the video, as well.
(h) WRN brown-bag lunch “Non-Traditional Research Methodologies – Action
Research”, March 25, 2014: This was the second workshop in the series on various
research methodologies used by the different disciplines on campus. The first was
“Aboriginal Research Methodologies” in March 2013. Dr. Fran Racher spoke on how
she has used Action Research in a project with Alzheimer couples; Sheelagh Chadwick
spoke on how she applies Action Research in her ongoing mentoring of music teachers in
Botswana as they introduce music into their schools and transform the curriculum and
their teaching to tailor it to their students and culture. Six people attended the session, in
addition to the presenters. Notes of the session were made available to all female faculty
members. SW provided refreshments.
(k) End of term celebration – For the last several years we have invited female faculty to
celebrate the end of term with a pay-for-yourself lunch. The lunch occurred on the last
day of classes, April 11th, 2014, from noon to two p.m. in the Music Faculty Lounge.
Blue Hills Bakery delivered soup, sandwiches and dainties. Eighteen attended. It was a
positive, and enjoyable end to the term.
(i) Research Enhancement at Brandon University (REBU) Conference, May 2nd, 2014:
Three members of the SWRC sit on the REBU committee, as the idea originated with the
SWRC. A delegation met with Dr. Fearon on September 20th, 2013, to ask for his
support for the Spring 2014 REBU research conference. Dr. Fearon agreed, in principle,
to provide the same funding as last year, $3000, towards the 2014 conference, and to
make an ongoing commitment to an annual conference, pending budget. Dr. Fearon
suggested that the conferences be fuel for writing “chapters” in a pamphlet for faculty,
that would lay out the research life cycle of a faculty member – beginning with the “howto’s” to begin research for a new faculty member; then how to form collaborations,
internal and external, for an intermediate researcher; and finally how to transfer
knowledge for own research portfolio and for the university, in the later phase of a
researcher’s career. He was very supportive of faculty supporting each other, such as SW
and the WRN is doing.
A cross-campus committee began meeting in November 2013 to organize the
conference. The committee consisted of Michelle Magnusson, Katherine Pachkowski,
Rainer Schira, Etsuko Yasui, Jonathan Allan, Sheelagh Chadwick, Doug Ramsey, Colette
Simonot, Chris Brown, and Kathleen Nichol.
The conference consisted of Dr. Jill Scott, of Queens University, as the Keynote Speaker,
followed by four panel discussions, with panelists consisting of BU faculty members,
three per panel. Jill Scott gave an inspiring address, weaving in her experience with
SSHRC grants, and much outreach, teaching and mentoring. The panels focused on
Grants, Marketing Ourselves, Where to Publish, and Coping with Negative Feedback.
The atmosphere of the day was very positive and practical. Feedback has been very
encouraging. Two note-takers recorded the presentations and discussion. They will be
available to all faculty members soon.
(j) Workshop on Preparing your Dossier for Promotion, Tenure, and Reclassification,
May 14th , 2014: This workshop allowed faculty to hear how others were successful in
creating their dossiers for promotion and tenure, and for reclassification, and to view their
dossiers. Six faculty members attended, and one who was unable to attend was sent notes
of the event, while seven faculty members led the workshop. Members expressed the
appreciation of having the workshop – to alert them to how the processes work at BU and
to help them fine tune their applications as the deadlines approach. We are grateful to
faculty who contribute to the career progression of their colleagues by sharing knowledge
at these sessions. The SW provided refreshments.
5. Events planned:
(a) WRN Research Methodologies workshop: The third in the series will be planned for
March 2015.
(b) Summer 2014 SW Review Preparation: Results of the summer study will be available.
(c) Workshop on Applying for Tenure, Promotion or Reclassification: is tentatively set
for Friday, September 12th, 2014, in the afternoon.
6. Other issues discussed:
(a) Equity idea from CAUT and BUFA: Many universities have Equity Clauses in their
CA’s. We at BU have a discrimination clause and the SW clause, but not a broader
equity clause. BUFA asked the SW’s opinion on an equity clause. An equity clause
would note that BU must respect the needs of minority populations. The following
motion was carried forward to BUFA: “SW supports that an equity clause be added to
the CA at the next round of bargaining, separate from Article 30, the Status of Women
clause.” Passed unanimously.
BUFA sent two delegates to the fall CAUT Aboriginal Concerns Conference in the
fall. BUFA also sent two delegates to the CAUT Equity Conference in Toronto in early
February. The conference focused mainly on racialized equity, but included women,
Aboriginals and LGBTQ as well. Alex Braun noted that she was happy to learn that in
other universities that have created equity committees, they have kept their status of
women committees, as well.
(b) Mental Health in the Workplace sessions: Five committee members made a point of
attending one of the two sessions offered on Mental Health in the Workplace. We are
interested in the ongoing work on this topic.
7. Financial Report:
Date
06-May-13
11-Apr-13
11-Apr-13
06-Nov-13
11-Jun-13
14-Sep-13
14-Sep-13
16-Nov-13
16-Nov-13
10-Nov-13
06-Mar-14
06-Mar-14
25-Mar-14
27-May-14
Description
Balance
Cost of end of term lunch
Deposit from end of term lunch
Transfer from President's Office
Transfer from BUFA
Refreshments for Promotion, Tenure &
Reclassification Workshop
Copying
Refreshments for Women’s Research Network
workshop
Copying
Copying
Honorarium for musicians for International
Women’s Day reception
Refreshments for the International Women’s day
reception
Refreshments for Women’s Research Network
workshop
Totals
Deposit
Expense
($339.59)
$204.17 ($543.76)
($353.76)
$96.24
$546.24
$190.00
$450.00
$450.00
$ 106.88
$ 1,090.00
Balance
$439.36
$437.04
$
2.32
$
19.01
$
$
7.60
1.60
$418.03
$410.43
$408.83
$ 120.00
$288.83
$ 414.17
($125.34)
$
($162.35)
37.01
$ 912.76
Kathleen Nichol, for
The Status of Women Review Committee
May 27, 2013